Online
I don't think it should be surprising when you consider all that teachers today have to go through for such unappealing compensation that the US is having a teacher shortage. But the reasons for it aside, this is a big problem and states are coming up with ways to deal with it that are obviously not ideal.
The public school system is on the verge of breaking in some places. States are allowing veterans and college students - with no teaching degrees or certifications - to teach public school.
After two full school seasons substantially disrupted by Covid, American education now faces an existential crisis.
The public school system is on the verge of breaking in some places. States are allowing veterans and college students - with no teaching degrees or certifications - to teach public school.
After two full school seasons substantially disrupted by Covid, American education now faces an existential crisis.
Rural school districts in Texas are switching to four-day weeks this fall due to lack of staff. Florida is asking veterans with no teaching background to enter classrooms. Arizona is allowing college students to step in and instruct children.
The teacher shortage in America has hit crisis levels — and school officials everywhere are scrambling to ensure that, as students return to classrooms, someone will be there to educate them.
“I have never seen it this bad,” Dan Domenech, executive director of the School Superintendents Association, said of the teacher shortage. “Right now it’s number one on the list of issues that are concerning school districts ... necessity is the mother of invention, and hard-pressed districts are going to have to come up with some solutions.”
It is hard to know exactly how many U.S. classrooms are short of teachers for the 2022-2023 school year; no national database precisely tracks the issue. But state- and district-level reports have emerged across the country detailing staffing gaps that stretch from the hundreds to the thousands — and remain wide open as summer winds rapidly to a close.
The Nevada State Education Association estimated that roughly 3,000 teaching jobs remained unfilled across the state’s 17 school districts as of early August. In a January report, the Illinois Association of Regional School Superintendents found that 88 percent of school districts statewide were having “problems with teacher shortages” — while 2,040 teacher openings were either empty or filled with a “less than qualified” hire. And in the Houston area, the largest five school districts are all reporting that between 200 and 1,000 teaching positions remain open.